Iranian official says protest death toll at least 5000

An Iranian official said that at least 5,000 people, including 500 security personnel, were killed in protests in Iran, blaming “terrorists and armed rebels” for killing “innocent Iranians”.

The official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters that the heaviest clashes and most deaths occurred in Iran’s Kurdish regions in northwestern Iran, where Kurdish separatists are active and where flare-ups have been most severe in past periods of unrest.

“The final death toll is not expected to rise sharply,” he said on Sunday, adding that “armed groups in Israel and abroad” were supporting and equipping those who took to the streets.

Iranian officials consistently blame foreign enemies for the unrest; This includes Israel, the Islamic Republic’s arch-enemy, which launched a military attack on Iran in June.

US-based rights group HRANA said on Saturday the death toll had reached 3,308 and 4,382 more cases were being investigated.

The group said it had confirmed the arrests of more than 24,000 people.

Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group headquartered in Norway, said the heaviest clashes during protests that broke out in late December occurred in Kurdish regions in the north-west.